1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information storage device ideal for tape streamer drives and relates in particular to a MIC (memory-in-cassette) tape cassette involving technology for wireless communication of various types of control information through a communications antenna between a non-contact memory such as a MIC (memory-in-cassette) embedded inside a tape cassette and a circuit board when the tape cassette such as a DAT (digital audio tape recorder) cassette is loaded in the tape streamer drives.
2. Description of the Related Art
A tape streamer drive using for example a DAT cassette is known in the related art as an information storage device capable of recording and reproducing digital data on and from magnetic tape. Though the tape streamer drive constituting the recording medium (information recording medium) varies according to the length of the magnetic tape of the DAT cassette, the tape streamer drive is capable of recording (storing) vast amounts of information on the order of dozens and hundreds of gigabytes. This vast storage capability has led to wide use in applications such as backup of data stored on recording media such as hard disks inside computers. The tape streamer drive is also ideal for storing image data having a large data size.
DAT cassettes can also be inserted and removed from the tape streamer drive. Using this so-called removable media, the data in a plurality of tape streamer drives can be recorded and reproduced by utilizing the same DAT cassette.
However, the DAT cassette is marketed in many different types according to differences in material, thickness and length of the magnetic tape. The tape streamer drive comprises a detection means to identify the type of DAT cassette when a DAT cassette is loaded, and based on the results of the identification, record or reproduce the data in a format matching to the particular DAT cassette. In other words, a detailed identification of the type of DAT cassette is required in order to correspondingly record and reproduce in a stable manner on and from a particular DAT cassette which is different according to the magnetic tape length, thickness and material, etc.
So, DAT cassette is required to be embedded with a MIC (memory-in-cassette) constituting one type of non-contact memory stored beforehand with a plurality of control information for controlling the data format to match the differences in the material, thickness and length of the magnetic tape in the DAT cassette. The tape streamer drive is required to comprise a memory drive circuit containing a communications antenna, and when the DAT cassette is loaded inside the tape streamer drive, the reading and writing of control information for the MIC of the DAT cassette is performed by wireless communication with the communications antenna of the memory drive circuit. In this way, recording and reproducing of data is performed in the recording format matching the type of DAT cassette loaded in the tape streamer drive.
An example of such technology is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,791,578 by the applicants of the present invention, wherein the cassette housed a MIC (memory-in-cassette) having an electrical contact. However the electrical contact was unsatisfactory in terms of reliability and also had the problem that the many parts were required and the cost was high.
Further problems with this example of the related art were a lack of space when using a tape cassette conforming to DAT standards having tape with a width of 4 mm, and another problem was that the slider plate (such as using a thin metal plate) reduced the effectiveness of the antenna.
Also, the system control circuit for the tape streamer drive is usually mounted on the main circuit board installed horizontally on the bottom of the chassis within the tape streamer drive, so that the memory drive circuit and the communications antenna are preferably both mounted on the main circuit board.
However, tape streamer drive installs a cassette insertion (or loading) section having a plurality of cassette positioning pins and a pair of left/right reel shafts on the upper part of the chassis and normally a pair of left/right reel motors are installed on the bottom of the chassis to drive the pair of left/right reel shafts. Therefore, while the DAT cassette inserted from the cassette insertion slot on the front panel was loaded on a comparatively high position on the upper part of the chassis, the main circuit board must be installed at a low position on the lower side of the chassis to avoid the reel motor. So there was a longer distance between the communications antenna of the main circuit board and the MIC embedded with the DAT cassette, created the problem that the write read accuracy of the MIC information was unsatisfactory.
Whereupon, separating the communications antenna from the main circuit board by mounting a dedicated antenna circuit board was attempted, and that dedicated antenna circuit board installed near the MIC of the DAT cassette that was loaded. However, this method had the problem that since a dedicated antenna circuit board was required the number of parts and the number of assembly processes increased so that the cost became higher.
In view of the problems with the related art, the present invention has the object of providing a tape cassette and recording information device for performing highly accurate reading and writing of control information on MIC (memory-in-cassette) embedded in tape cassettes such as DAT without an increased number of parts and assembly processes.
The tape cassette relating to the present invention comprises a box capable of housing the magnetic tape, a magnetic tape guide opening formed at one end of the box, a rear section formed at the other end of the box facing the guide opening, and a memory installed in the interior at the center facing longitudinally along the rear section.
In the present invention, a memory is installed internally at the center facing longitudinally along the rear section of the tape cassette. The memory is therefore installed in a position that does not interfere with the wind diameter of the magnetic tape, etc.
In order to achieve the above objects, the information storage device of the present invention is comprised of a memory embedded in the rear side of the cassette which is to be inserted into the chassis from the cassette insertion slot on the front panel, control information of various types of information recording medium in that cassette, the switch circuit board installed on the front end of the chassis and also installed parallelly on the inner side of the front panel and of the communications antenna mounted on that switch circuit board. And when the cassette is loaded in the chassis, the memory of that cassette is in proximity to the front of the communications antenna on the switch board.
The information storage device of the present invention configured as described above, comprises a memory recorded with various types of control information embedded in the rear side of the cassette, and further comprises a communications antenna mounted on a horizontal switch circuit board on the inner side of the front panel at the front end of the chassis for carrying out communication of various types of control information in that memory, and the cassette memory can be placed in proximity to the front of the communications antenna on the switch circuit board, when the cassette is inserted in the chassis from the cassette insertion slot on the front panel.